It Falls On Me

by Bellaniza

Bulma's wedding to Yamcha is a week away, yet her fears and doubts are increasing as the fateful day approaches. Torn between what she should do, and what she wants to do, is never an easy decision. And what about Vegeta, who has become an unexpected factor in her equation? The battle between the mind and the heart can be won, as long as you can see through both of their illusions.

16. Falling Apart Together

I'm sorry it took so long to get this chapter out to you. After I posted the last one, I ran into a dilemma with my story and lost my direction in which way I wanted to take it. My indecision led to a huge writer's block, and I had no inspiration for a long time while I debated on where to take this story next. I was very unhappy with everything I was writing, and I kept deleting everything and trying to start over, because it just didn't feel right.

A few weeks ago I finally decided in which way I'm going to go with my story, and I have decided I will go the long route, which means another 5 to 6 chapters more. After being unhappy with everything I was writing, I decided on trying to write another flashback like I had done on chapter 13, and I just wrote whatever came to me. It turned out to be heaven-sent, because as I wrote the flashback you are about to read, my writer's block finally broke and I found my direction again.

I promised all of you I would finish this story, and I will…..it just sucks that I get hit with writer's block so much. Thank you for your amazing amounts of patience while you wait for my updates. You are wonderful for sticking with me and my story, and I hope by delivering quality chapters that I kinda make up for the long waits. Thank you for continuing to read my story, I love you guys!

Here's the next chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! I think it's the longest chapter of my story so far. It was most definitely a labor of love.

A/N: The two sections of this chapter that are in italics (located right at the beginning and right at the end) are flashbacks/memories/backstory. As always, they are important in giving us a window into the wonderfully complex dynamics between our handsome Saiyan prince and our beautiful human scientist.

Second A/N: Tick tock goes the clock. Still 2 days until Bulma's wedding…

---

Chapter 16- Falling Apart Together

Bulma sighed a large breath of contentment, gently blowing her bangs away from her face. The sand underneath her still felt warm, even through her beach towel, as she lied on her stomach, crossing her arms underneath her chin as she gazed dreamily out over the horizon. The soft crash of the oceanic waves beckoned her in again, promising that the evening did not have to come to an end if she would just come back into the water. She ignored the enticing invitation as she crossed her ankles together and raised her feet behind her, genuinely enjoying the serenity of the moment. There had been nothing but silence between them for the past 15 minutes or so. "Hey, did you fall asleep on me?"

"Yes." was the blunt, sarcastic response heard next to her. She turned her head sideways, seeing Vegeta's eyes closed even though he gave away that he was obviously very much awake. He mirrored her position, laying on his stomach alongside her also, minus his feet in the air. "Although sleep is not a bad idea right now." he added as an honest afterthought.

Sleep sounded good to her also, as Bulma involuntarily let out a small yawn at his response. She reached over to gently nudge her forearm against his elbow before bringing her arm back under her chin. "Guess we should get back to the palace then, huh? The suns are gonna be setting soon."

"Hn." was his lackadaisical answer, not really agreeing or disagreeing as he ran his tail slowly through the reddish, warm sand, feeling the most relaxed he had felt in quite a while.

Bulma continued to look at him, his calm state a very rare occurrence indeed. She smiled. "You know…." she began, reaching over and managing to run her fingers through the front of his hair that hung over his forehead, "…fringes look good on you."

"I'm getting tired of the look myself." Vegeta said, scowling slightly as he reached up, gently pushing her hand away from his face. "The next time you see me, I might not have them anymore."

Bulma frowned, her lips pursing in a line as she listened to his last words. Figures he would have to bring up the one thing they were avoiding talking about all day. She shifted her body, moving off her stomach so that she was now lying on her side, facing him. She propped her elbow outward as she rested her head on the back of her hand, and looked at him. She studied him for a moment, wondering what was running through his mind. Probably a couple of the same things she was thinking about. After some contemplation, she figured what the hell. "Are you going to miss me, Vegeta?"

"Tch." he scoffed. "Miss you? No." he responded matter-of-factly, trying to hide a smile as he heard Bulma give out a small gasp of surprise, taking offense at his answer.

"Whatever! You know you are." she responded defiantly, watching as he opened his eyes and turned his head to face her, his dark eyes meeting her blue ones.

Vegeta shrugged lightly. "I don't know, girl. Two years is a long time. I just might forget who you are." He tried to stifle a smirk as he watched Bulma stick her tongue out at him.

"You're so full of shit, Vegeta. Like you could ever forget me." She flicked some red sand at him, which he responded to by flicking some back at her with the tip of his tail. She gave him a look. "Seriously, aren't you going to miss me? Even a little bit?"

"I am sure that at one point or another I may miss having my hearing damaged by your incessant screeching." Vegeta could not hide his chuckle as Bulma threw a handful of sand at him this time.

"I swear, I can never get a straight answer from you." she huffed, rolling her eyes as she shifted to lay back down on her stomach again. She crossed her arms underneath her chin, deciding to ignore his lack of an answer to her question. She returned her attention back to the twin suns that were already halfway disappeared beneath Vegetasei's horizon. "Only Kami knows why, but I'm going to miss you, you jerk."

The prince remained silent for a few moments before voicing his curiosity. "Are you?"

Bulma's gaze remained strong and steadfast toward the sunset. "What kind of a question is that? Of course I am. I won't see you or talk to you for two years. That's a very long time, Vegeta." she murmured her last words, the sadness hitting her again as the reality of it continued to sink in. She had been trying to avoid this since they had been first told, and up until that day, she had pushed it aside. Unfortunately, time yielded for no one, and today had come much sooner for her than she had ever wanted it to. This was their last day together, a day that was quickly coming to an end…and well, the sadness hit her harder than she thought it would.

Silence hovered between them for what seemed like endless moments, before Vegeta spoke. "Two years will come and go faster than you know it. You'll be busy working with your father and for the company, now that you're done with your education, right?"

"Yeah, for the most part…" Bulma trailed off, sighing heavily. She had just turned 20 years old a few months ago and already earned dual doctorates in engineering and mathematics. She was still working on her doctorates in biology, chemistry and medicine. Being a genius was great and all, but trying to find the time to do all this while bouncing between two worlds was a challenge.

"Keep yourself busy, and you won't even notice I'm gone."

"Pfft. Right, like that's even possible! Although while you're gone I guess I can work on getting my other doctorates. Especially now that you won't be around distracting me anymore." Bulma baited him.

"I'M the distraction?" Vegeta responded, giving her a look of audacity. "Between the both of us, if anyone is the distraction, it's YOU."

Bulma smirked. "Maybe. Maybe not. But I'm sure we can both agree that you and I tend to get more work done when we're apart than when we are together."

"As evidenced by our lazy afternoon here on the beach." he muttered.

"Hey, it beats being stuck inside the palace all day."

Vegeta mulled over her words for a moment. "I can agree with that."

"You're agreeing? And with ME of all people? Oh my god, it's a miracle." Bulma joked lightly, looking over at him with a playful sparkle in her eye. "I need to mark this down on the calendar. Not that anyone would believe me though."

Vegeta gave her a stern look. "Now I'm positive that I am NOT going to miss you." he replied back. Bulma smirked, and they returned their attention back out to the sunsets. They watched as the dual suns were getting closer and closer to sinking completely into the ocean. After another few quiet minutes between them, she broke their silence.

"Two years will fly by." Bulma said, trying to reassure herself more than anything. "After all, you get the better end of the deal here." she began, taking one arm out from underneath her chin as she mindlessly began running the tips of her fingers through the sand. "You get to travel the universe and see all these amazing, new worlds and expand the empire. That's exciting." she ended with a wistful, almost envious tone in her voice.

Vegeta scoffed. "Yes, two years of being caged on a ship, traveling lightyears to worlds I am not familiar with, to be around races I do not know or trust, all for the expansion of our empire." he countered, watching as she drew in the sand. "Right, that sounds very 'exciting'." he ended in veiled sarcasm, letting out a small sigh of aggravation.

"Oh c'mon, it won't be that bad." Bulma reassured. "Your dad will be handling everything, won't he?"

"Like yourself, I have to start being more active with the 'family business'." Vegeta proceeded to close his eyes as a frown returned to his face. "He wants me to take on his role. He wants me to start learning how to negotiate with other worlds and how to rule over our people and run our empire."

"Well…..yeah." Bulma said, continuing to guide her fingers lightly over the sand. "I mean, you're going to be taking over someday. Of course you have to know how to do all that." she said in a soft tone, reflecting herself in her words also, since she knew how Vegeta felt. She had to learn the business side of Capsule Corp also, since it was expected of her to take over after her father retired. She would have been content to simply remain an engineer and scientist, but she would be inheriting the business, just like he would someday be inheriting the throne.

"You know that I have absolutely no interest in the business and politics of it all. I am a warrior. I train, I fight, and I grow stronger. What good is being the leader of an empire when an enemy can easily overpower you and kill you? I will not sit back idle on a throne and grow weak while someone else gets a chance to get strong enough overthrow my father or myself."

"You act as though the universe is out to get you." Bulma murmured as she began to erase her abstract designs in the sand.

"Who is to say that it isn't?" Vegeta reasoned, mindlessly reaching over with his hand to smooth the sand out for her.

"Because you're Saiyans. By far one of the strongest races in the universe, if not already the strongest. I doubt there is anyone around stronger than you." she said as she brought her arm back underneath her, content to watch Vegeta undo her artwork.

"There is always someone stronger. That is why I would rather stay here, or on Earth, and continue to train and become stronger. I will not be able to train the way I need to while I am gone." the prince let out an aggravated sigh as he brought his arm back underneath his chin. "So believe me when I say that two years with my father, traveling the universe, sounds like 'bad' to me."

Bulma stayed silent, not knowing how to console him. Vegeta didn't want to go, but he had to. Just like she didn't want to be tied down to Earth and drown in the burden of carrying on the family business, but she had to also. Neither of them were happy about what was happening. Against their wills they were going to be separated for a long time and be forced to walk different paths. These were the lives that they had been born into, pre-ordained for them by their families. Did they ever have a choice? She sighed with a heavy heart. "Alright, well how about this? I'll trade you. Why don't you go back to Earth and help my dad run the company, and I'll stay here and go with your dad to talk with other worlds and get them to join the empire?"

Vegeta turned his head to look at her, his eyebrow raised in skepticism. "I think you've had too much sun today."

Bulma glanced back over at him. "I'm serious. You can train all you want on Earth, and you can help my dad test out all of his inventions, especially the ones we're making for the military. You'd be the perfect test subject."

"And knowing you as well as I do, you would have no qualms at all with traveling the universe, seeing different worlds, meeting new people…and I have no doubt you would successfully get them to give their allegiance to us either." Vegeta commented.

"Exactly! See, my idea is brilliant! Why don't we do that?"

"Because, girl, that would make absolute sense. And because it makes sense, our families will not agree, even though you and I are the only logical ones between the lot."

Bulma let out a reluctant chuckle. "Well, unlike yourself, at least I tried to think of way out of this."

Vegeta rolled his eyes. "You always have a solution to any problem, don't you?"

"It's called being a scientist, Vegeta."

He turned his eyes away from her and back to the sunset. "I thought scientists only asked questions. They never have the answers, otherwise there would be nothing to study or experiment on."

"Fine! Then it's called being a mathematician, smartass." Bulma responded in a huff.

"That's more like it." Vegeta responded with an arrogant smirk, earning a dirty look from her.

"You know what? Forget what I said earlier. I'm NOT going to miss you." she half-joked, turning her head to look over at Vegeta again, who had a smile on his lips. She couldn't help but to smile also at their all-too-familiar banter as she studied him for a moment. She took the time to enjoy his presence, which she would not have around her again for a very long time. She let out a resounding sigh, continuing to rest the side of her face on her arms as she looked at him. "Two years." she said sullenly, breaking the comfortable silence between them as she felt she needed to voice the reality they were now facing.

"Two years." Vegeta repeated as unhappily as she did, watching one of the suns sink completely beneath the horizon. The second sun would soon follow closely after. Endless moments of silence remained between them as they watched the darkness arrive. The orange glow in the now darkening red sky were from the sunrays trying their best to remain alive as nighttime began to overtake their evening.

After much contemplation, Vegeta broke the silence between them. "Yes."

"Yes, what?" Bulma asked in confusion.

"Yes, I will miss you, brat."

---

Vegeta appeared instantly in the grand throne room, the air pressure seeming to change as waves from his disturbed aura suddenly engulfed the area. Those inside the throne room felt his energy and were temporarily stunned into silence upon seeing and sensing the unexpected arrival of the prince. It was eerily quiet for a few moments, so quiet that Vegeta could hear his own heart beating. The silence was deafening. He slowly lowered his fingers from his forehead, the simple motion itself holding some sort of dangerous and unspoken threat. He tilted his head to the left, then to the right….strategically observing his surroundings as he studied everything and everyone in the room in the matter of just a few seconds. He noted there was more than a handful of Elite Royal guards there, including Kakarot, who now stood at attention after hastily bowing to him. They dared not to look him in the eye. He then diverted his attention to his father, mother, and brother, who sat upon their thrones.

The guards and Goku made no motion to leave the room after a few more tense moments, and it became clear that there apparently was going to be a small audience for this. Normally he was a very private person, but going by how he was currently feeling, he did not care right now that others would be witnessing this. Vegeta did not even bother with heading to his quarters to shower and change out of armor. He did not care how he looked, even as the healing fluid dripped off of him and onto the crimson carpet.

The king and queen were momentarily surprised as their wayward son stood before them, awaiting them below the raised steps, looking up at them with distain as they sat upon their thrones. After all, they were expecting Bardock to tell them he was out of the tank, but it seemed he took it upon himself to face them right away without ever being ordered to do so. Tarble sat somewhat uncomfortably in his seat by his mother's side, very worried for his brother. The youngest prince managed a difficult swallow, feeling his brother's energy signal. The king studied his eldest, unsure if the Elite guards would be able to handle his son if he got out of control. Going by the dark aura his son was emitting, he knew it was a wise decision in having Kakarot there also, just in case.

"How nice of you to finally grace us with your presence." the king said, his voice booming in the large, almost empty room. "Your presence was found highly needed yesterday."

Vegeta looked at him with contempt, staying silent for a moment as he considered his next words. "I had more pressing issues at hand." he said tersely.

"Apparently you did, seeing how you willingly disobeyed myself and your father. Did I not warn you yesterday to remain here, at peril of your tail being cut off?" the queen said in a deceptively calm, even tone. A few guards, as well as Tarble, shifted uncomfortably at the thought of having one's tail cut off. It was one of the biggest disgraces a Saiyan could face, next to being defeated by a weaker opponent.

Vegeta narrowed his eyes at his mother, as he clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth, growing increasingly aggravated. "If you recall, I was here, until I was informed of a situation that needed my immediate attention. As a warrior, and as the strongest Saiyan warrior, my training comes first. It always has, and it always will." the prince said sternly, not leaving any room for contestation.

"You are a prince, foremost and above all." the king replied strongly, daring to oppose his words. "That seems to be a fact that you have been forgetting lately. Your training DOES NOT take precedence over your royal obligations, despite what you believe. Yesterday was a very important conference. Believe me, the Icejins did not take kindly to your absence again, especially when they set the time aside to specifically talk with you."

Vegeta growled dangerously, crossing his arms across his chest firmly as his tail snapped a few times in anger. "My presence is not needed for the horrendous spectacles that you call 'intergalactic negotiations. Especially with them.'" he spat out. "We are the dominant race, we are the strongest and most powerful beings in the universe. We do not have to negotiate with anyone, least of all the Icejins!"

"This was not a negotiation! The Cold Clan is interested in our strength, and they want our protection. In agreement, we will receive numerous planets they have in their possession, and trade for their technology, some of which is even superior to our own! Of course I would not expect you to know this." the queen said in a scathing tone. "If you had been here yesterday, then you would know that! "

"Spare me the political red-tape bullshit!" Vegeta snarled. "The Colds have nothing to offer us at all, besides their money, which we have more than plenty of." he said, uncrossing one arm from his chest and cutting it through the air in blatant frustration. "Do either of you even know which planets they are offering us? Do you?!" he demanded.

The king and queen hesitated for a moment, which gave him even more ground to continue speaking. "Our technology is far superior to anything they claim to have! Have they brought any samples of their supposed 'superior technology' to show us? Have they?" At seeing another hesitation from them, Vegeta glared at them, demanding an answer.

"They will show us their technology soon enough…" King Vegeta assured him, only to see his son's indifference at his words as Vegeta scoffed in disgust.

"They haven't, have they? I figured as much." Vegeta muttered with disdain. He took in a breath of agitation and breathed it out sharply, demanding that they listen to him. "You don't know what invisible strings are attached when it comes to dealing with them, contractual agreements or not! No amount of planets or technology are worth risking everything we have built! The Icejins are a powerful race, and the Cold Clan a powerful family. Do not underestimate them. They are manipulative and you are going to find yourself bargaining for more than you expect if we align ourselves with them!"

It was his parents' turn to scoff in disbelief and look down at him in a patronizing way. "Confident words from a prince who refuses to take a serious or active role in his future empire!" the king growled out. "You do not know what you speak of." He paused for a moment after hearing Vegeta's warning growl. "You are never present at the conferences anymore, and I highly doubt you have ever spoken with any members of the Colds! What makes you so sure of all this to begin with?!" he demanded.

Somehow Vegeta managed to restrain the anger that was quickly boiling over within him. "Because, unlike the both of you who are content to stay in the palace all day, complacently sitting in a conference room making deals with other worlds who do not have anything to offer us, I am out there, hearing and seeing what is really going on!" Vegeta countered in defiance. He glared at them coldly. "Do you think that because I am not physically present that I do not know what is going on within our Empire and outside of it?! Despite what you all believe, I read everything that is presented to us. I am very well-educated in the matters of our Empire and the threats that we face, whether you are aware of them or not. When it comes to the Icejins, they do not have ground to stand on, and I refuse to be part of diplomatic meetings and ridiculous treaties with them or any other races that seek only to take advantage of us!"

"ENOUGH! You are the crown prince of Vegetasei, and heir to the Saiyan Empire!" his father said sternly, standing up and towering over his eldest son, his tail snapping in anger as he glared down at him. He reached his limit to his son's defiance and outright disrespect of their intelligence as he criticized the direction that they were trying to take their empire in.

His mother followed suit, standing up and towering over Vegeta also. "Your father is right. Enough is enough, Vegeta! It is your duty to be part of such conferences and to establish amicable relations with other races and continue to grow our empire, whether you like it or not! And you will be around from now on." the queen said in a threatening tone.

Vegeta couldn't help but to smirk and respond with defiant mirth. "Really? Is that so? And how exactly are you going to make me stay here, when I can teleport to anywhere I please?!"

"You are not a cub anymore, Vegeta! You are an adult, and you are being reckless by disappearing off to wherever you go, without Kakarot, Nappa, or Raditz by your side." the king ground out in frustration, slowly taking a few steps down the stairs towards his insubordinate son. "Continue to disregard your royal responsibilities and duties to your people and your future empire, and I will make sure you remain grounded here on Vegetasei until you snap out of whatever rebellion you are going through!"

Vegeta didn't appreciate the threats as he growled deeply in a feral warning. "You can't make me do anything." he snarled as his tail lashed out behind him.

His continued defiance made the king even more angry. His father decided to ignore his son's outburst and hand down his punishment. "You are to join us tomorrow, and from here on out, for each and every conference. This is NOT negotiable. Leave the planet at any time, especially during the meetings, even once, for a single second, and I will have Kakarot fetch you and keep bringing you back here as many times as it takes until you obey us."

Upon hearing the word 'obey', Vegeta uncrossed his arms, his anger finally boiling over. He clenched his hands into fists, his tail frizzing up as he made no attempt to restrict his temper. He raised his hand, pointing a dire warning to his father. "Try to keep me caged in that fucking room, and I will kill everyone inside it."

"Even if Bulma is in there also?" his mother threw in, as her eyes blazed with challenge for her son to keep his threat. They all knew he would not hurt or kill her. He would even refrain from killing anyone else if she was around him.

At hearing her name, Vegeta visibly stiffened. He had been caught off-guard by those unexpected words. His tail continued to snap back and forth as he continued to clench his fists, taking no note or realization of how rapidly his power level spiked and was growing as he was overcome with barely restrained rage. "Why would she be in there?" he managed to mutter through clenched teeth.

"The Icejins are returning here in a few months for another conference, to which you will be attending. Bulma was asked to be present also, as she was specifically asked for by name..." the king answered, beginning to become weary of Vegeta's demeanor as all their scouters began to blip quickly from his rapidly rising power level.

"Who asked for her?!" Vegeta demanded angrily.

"Freeza. One of King Cold's sons." the queen answered him carefully, eyeing him with trepidation as the dark, suffocating aura the prince had around him when he first arrived in the room seemingly returned.

Vegeta's insubordinate mood seemed to abruptly change upon this revelation. That was all he needed to hear. He knew the chance meeting with Zarbon last night at the meteor shower event was no coincidence. Especially when Zarbon turned down the opportunity to fight him. The blue lizard had been dancing and talking to Bulma, and he felt like kicking himself in the balls for not asking her what they had talked about. All he knew was that Zarbon was Freeza's right-hand man, and if Freeza asked about Bulma, it was only because of him. Fury overcame him.

Why the interest in her? What the hell did they want with her?!

"Vegeta!" Goku warned in an alarmed tone, taking a couple of step towards the prince in hopes to try to calm him down. But it was too late, as all their scouters exploded from being overloaded by Vegeta's rapidly growing energy as the prince yelled out in anger, his body now engulfed in his purplish aura. A few shouts of surprise and concern rang throughout the throne room as everyone tore what remained of their smoking, damaged scouters off of their heads and tossed them to the floor, unbelieving of the numbers that scrolled across their screens as they looked at the prince with a renewed sense of respect and fear.

Vegeta remained standing, his aura pulsating calmly, even though he was torn apart on the inside. Hearing Bulma's name hurt him so. Anger at her, coupled with heartache resonated through him-but more importantly, a great need to still protect her had overtaken him. No one would know that a chilling wave of panic hit him. If the Icejins wanted him and her there, it only meant that they were in some sort of danger. Things, it seemed, were just going from bad to worse. He was confident he could hold his own against anyone,-but Bulma…

"I do not want her there." Vegeta said icily, glaring up at them with brazen, dark eyes as something snapped within him. His aura began to pulsate more rapidly as he saw that his parents were about to oppose his words. He quickly raised a bare hand, palm side up, summoning a large ball of energy as a warning. The aggressive move unnerved some of the guards and even fazed Goku, who was weary of what he was up to. He wasn't sure if Vegeta was threatening his parents, or trying to make a point, or what, but he was the only one brave to take a few more steps toward him in hopes to calm him down.

Vegeta eyed some of the guards, his attention tuned primarily towards Goku, who was apprehensively standing nearby, visibly cautious about approaching him any further. "The Icejins want me to be there? Fine." the prince began rather calmly as he threw more of his power into the ball of energy, making it grow larger. He then looked at his parents. "You want me to be here? Fine." he continued, glancing at the impressive yet terrifying display of power he currently held in his hand. At the moment even he could draw no satisfaction from seeing their alarmed and shocked looks.

The volatile prince remained quiet for a few short moments as he contemplated his next words on the matter. "Understand this. When the Icejins arrive, I will be at the meeting. They can speak to me, but not her." and with that, Vegeta looked back up at his parents, daring them to challenge him. "I refuse to have Bulma be a part of whatever they are up to. She is not to be on Vegetasei while they are here. And if I am disobeyed and she is brought to the conference-I will sure as hell grab her, teleport her off Vegetasei to safety, then I will return to kill the Colds, their entire entourage, and whoever dared to defy me by bringing her there." he shot everyone a lethal glare. "And that is a promise."

The room was deathly silent, as his agreement and his threat lingered. Vegeta awaited opposition, and after receiving none from his parents or from Goku, the dark prince let the deadly energy in his palm dissipate as he returned the energy to his body. Everyone inwardly sighed in relief at seeing him do so. Meanwhile, the king and queen looked at each other for a moment, concern clearly evident on their faces. Since when did Vegeta become so strong?! The reminder that he was indeed the strongest Saiyan warrior had been made perfectly clear to everyone, even to them.

The queen gave a look and nodded to the king, who then turned his attention back to his unruly son. It seemed Vegeta conditionally agreed to the terms of his punishment, save his one 'request'. "Those are acceptable terms, Vegeta. You remain on the planet. She will not be here when the Icejins arrive." his father granted his demand. There were very few things, if any, that their son was so passionate about. One, was his pride. Second was his training and desire to become stronger. The third was his protectiveness over Bulma. Although they could argue with him about the first and second topics, the third had always been non-negotiable.

"Good." Vegeta said sternly, abruptly turning away from his parents now that it was settled. He turned and saw Goku studying him, a concerned look evident on his face as he looked like he was trying to figure something out. It was the same damned look that Bardock had been giving him earlier. "Kakarot!" he barked out, startling Goku.

"Yeah?" Goku asked, as he was snapped out of his distracted thoughts.

"Follow me." Vegeta ordered, as he began storming out of the throne room. With that simple command, Goku hurried to catch up to him, following him to wherever they were apparently going.

As Vegeta and Goku exited the throne room, they left behind a king, a queen, and a handful of Elite guards with the sense that they saw only a fraction of the prince's true power.

A great power that he easily wielded-and restrained-in order to protect the one person he cared about.

---

Nappa and Raditz had arrived to the throne room too late, after they sensed Vegeta's strong, yet uneasy energy signal move instantaneously from the medical ward to the throne room. Adding another frustration to their already long list of grievances against him, they hurried to the throne room, but the doors had already been shut and no one was allowed in or out. Sighing in frustration, the duo placed their ears against the doors and for the most part were able to hear what was being said inside.

While Nappa listened, he couldn't help but be concerned for Vegeta. He had always had a good read on the prince…after all, he had helped care for him and raise him since he was a cub. Nothing was good about whatever the hell was going on. There was an angered king and queen at their son. It did not help that the royal couple were also displeased with himself, Raditz, and Kakarot, who happened to be inside the throne room. And how could the king and queen not be angry with them? They were Vegeta's bodyguards, sworn to protect him from anyone and anything...even if they had to protect him from himself. Nappa frowned. There had been a bounty on the prince's head, which would have yielded a missing royal tail if they had let anyone get to him. Vegeta was disturbed enough to have sedated himself willingly, which was also a great cause for his worry. The younger Saiyan had tensed at sensing Vegeta's power level as it rose alarmingly quickly, and well….he had enough worry for both of them, Nappa figured, as he looked over at Raditz.

Raditz fisted his hands, equally torn between wanting to yell at Vegeta for all the shit they had to deal with because of him, and torn between wanting to rake him over the coals to find out just what in the world was going on with him. He couldn't get any answers from his father or from his brother earlier, which was horribly frustrating since Goku couldn't keep many things to himself to begin with. Needless to say, he felt Vegeta's energy skyrocketing to a dangerous level and Raditz was compelled to burst in there, worried that maybe the prince was being hurt somehow. Nappa's strong, reassuring hand on his shoulder kept him from doing exactly that. Reluctantly they kept their ears to the door, overhearing Vegeta's command, and they looked over at each other, knowing something else much more serious was really going on.

Raditz wasn't sure how he was going to react when he would finally see Vegeta, but as the prince thundered out of the throne room, he found his answer. There was something very off about Vegeta, and the instinct to protect him came forward as he momentarily ignored his anger and gripes over him. He could not explain it. Vegeta was physically fine. He was not injured, and he was back home safe on the planet. Yet, what was wrong with his energy signal? Something was surely the matter with him. Did Nappa feel it also? He gave a confused glance at Nappa, who also reflected the same puzzled look.

Vegeta sorely met his bodyguards as he exited the throne room,, glaring at them for a moment. He wiped away more of the thin healing fluid that was slowly running down his face as he looked at them disdainfully. He didn't have to say anything at the moment, for his aura was clear as day. He was on lockdown, and they were officially his prison wardens. "Well, come on!" the prince snapped as he began to walk off away from them. Nappa and Raditz and Goku each gave each other a look of reluctance before following after him.

"Where are you going?" Nappa dared to ask, knowing that asking about his personal agenda was going to be even more of a sore subject now.

"Where does it look like?! To my chambers to shower and change." Vegeta snarled, ignoring the royal guards that patrolled the palace bowing to him as he quickly made his way to his quarters. The four of them remained quiet throughout the rest of the way until they reached the prince's quarters, and after everyone was inside the common room, the prince shut the door behind them and turned around and looked at them sternly.

"I need to train. Seeing how my gravity room was destroyed…" Vegeta said, glaring at Goku, having not forgotten what he had done to it. Goku gave a uneasy chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head, nervously remembering that Vegeta had threatened to cut off his tail over it. The prince shook his head, ignoring the issue since there were more pressing ones at hand. "Every waking minute that I am not at those infernal meetings, we are to be training and sparring, is that understood? You will come at me with everything you have. I need to become as strong as I can before the Colds arrive."

"But why don't you just train in the one back at Bulma's?" Goku asked, quickly snapping his mouth shut at seeing the dark look on Vegeta's face. Before he could answer, Raditz cut in.

"I swear Kakarot, you must have suffered brain damage when you were dropped on your head! He's been forbidden to leave the planet! Weren't you listening in there?! Hell, even I heard that from outside the doors!"

"Oh yeah…" Goku said sheepishly, giving Vegeta an apologetic look. "Sorry."

Vegeta was about to speak, when he was cut off. "He can still go…" Nappa began, willing to defy the king and queen's orders. "…he needs to train. We can cover for him, right Raditz?"

"I don't think that's a good idea." Raditz answered back.

"How come?" Goku asked, not seeing a problem with it.

"Because…" Raditz began, "…others will sense that he is not around. You heard what the king and queen said. He isn't supposed to leave off-planet, even for a second. We can try to cover his absence, but just because we will cover for him, it doesn't mean everyone else will."

"You're right." Nappa stated. "Which means we'll have to figure out a plan to have him train on Earth when no one will be looking for him here. How about at night?" The trio continued to discuss how to keep Vegeta's disappearances from his parents, oblivious to his growing anger.

"Enough!" Vegeta suddenly snapped. "I am not going anywhere, above all Earth! I am never going back there, do you hear me?!" he growled, stunning them into temporary silence.

Nappa, Raditz, and Goku looked at each other uneasily for a moment. "Vegeta?" Goku asked, highly concerned over the words that he just said. "What do you mean you're never going back?"

"Exactly what I said." Vegeta said coldly. "Don't bother asking me why, because I will not tell you." he said with absolute finality, effectively ending the sore subject. He then turned to Nappa and Raditz, healing fluid dripping onto the floor as his tail snapped a few times in irritation. "Get into your battle armor and meet me outside in half an hour." he ordered them, giving them no room to ask him anything. "Kakarot, stay here. I need to speak with you."

Nappa and Raditz proceeded to bow to him, obeying his order and keeping eerily quiet as they left his quarters. As they each headed to their personal chambers to change into their battle gear, they were conflicted. On one hand they should have been glad that Vegeta wasn't going to be taking off anywhere for awhile. They had been spending many years, more so the past few months, trying to keep an eye on him, trying to protect him in case there were any threats to him, and failing horribly as he constantly teleported away to who knew where, without ever telling them where he was going, or who he was with, or what he was up to. Now that he would be home, they wouldn't be reprimanded for failing to do their job in guarding him.

But honestly, the fact that he would be around more did not bring them a sense of relief. On the other hand, Vegeta was willingly confining himself to the planet and temporarily giving up his freedom. He was willing to end his rebellion and defiance, but for what? Not for his parents, they knew, since he had showed them he could very well do what he pleased. Not for them, because he had made it more than perfectly clear that he did not need bodyguards.

Vegeta agreed to not leave the planet and he would fulfill his royal obligations based on the premise that Bulma would not be around when the Icejins arrived.

Staying on the planet was not going to help Vegeta either; he didn't have a functioning gravity room here, and he could not travel to Earth. Then again, he had said he was never going back to Earth, and that in itself was alarming.

Their worry grew. Vegeta's life energy had also changed, somehow. He was doing this for her, and he seemed to know something that he was not telling anyone when it came to the Icejins. All they knew was that he needed to get stronger, and they would help him however they could.

Goku remained in the room as his brother and Nappa left, leaving him alone to deal with the surly Saiyan prince. He did not fear anything though as he continued to study him. His face betrayed his concern, as he felt out Vegeta's energy signal. Something was very off about it, and he couldn't pinpoint what was different about it. Before he could think more on the subject, he saw Vegeta's dark glare.

"Kakarot, I want you to go to Earth and tell the woman that six weeks will not work anymore. I need the new gravity room completed as soon as possible. I also want you to find out what she and Zarbon spoke about last night."

Goku nodded, the disturbed look still on his face. "No problem. Anything else you want me to tell her?"

Vegeta wanted to tell her a hundred things. A thousand things.

"No, nothing at all." he muttered after a moment, using the back of his hand to wipe away more of the healing fluid that was slowly dripping down his forehead. "And while you're there, get as many senzu beans as possible. Tell the cat to grow more, because we will be needing many of them for the next few months."

"Sure, Vegeta. I'll be happy to do that for you." Goku replied, bowing down slightly, as the prince nodded his head in acknowledgement. Vegeta then walked from the common room into his own personal chambers, closing the door behind him. He didn't take long to disrobe, quickly kicking his boots off and tearing his bodysuit off of him, heading into his bathroom for a much needed shower and change of armor.

Goku let out a heavy sigh. He wondered if his father felt that oddity in Vegeta's ki also, like he had been currently sensing. Maybe Vegeta really was sick? He made a mental note that he would have to stop by the medical ward to talk to his father when he came back from his assignment on Earth. There were just too many questions, and the prince offered absolutely no answers. Goku placed two fingers on his forehead, and focused on Bulma's ki. He figured she was probably awake by now. Maybe she knew what was going on?

His timing would prove to be horrible as he instantly teleported himself to her.

---

Bulma sighed with a heavy heart as she flipped her purple mechanical pencil over and erased a part of her formula that was wrong. She drummed the pencil on the workbench a few times, holding the side of her head with her other hand as she mulled over her calculations, trying to find the exact area where she had messed up. This particular formula she was working on was going to probably be her biggest challenge, since she wasn't sure how high Vegeta wanted the gravity to go, and it wasn't like she could ask him.

Well, she could, but she really didn't want to.

So she was left with trying to figure this out on her own. A thousand times Earth's gravity sounded like more than enough to her, but from the data she gathered while she was on Vegetasei, he was already very comfortable between 375 and 400G's. Perhaps 1,000G's wouldn't last as long as she would hope, not by the rate at which he could withstand higher forces. Could the new gravity room sustain 1,500 or even 2,000 times Earth's gravity? Could the materials she bought even withstand such strenuous conditions? When she had purchased them on Xyneon, she had the 1000G mark in her mind, but now she worried that she might have made a mistake. Could she even build a power core strong enough to withstand such forces to begin with, and a chamber that could compensate for his great gains in strength and power if he ever reached those extreme levels?

"Kami, how am I ever going to do this?" she murmured softly to herself as she placed her pencil down and reclined back heavily in her chair to take a short break. She tried to avoid her non-business thoughts about Vegeta and focused solely on the job she promised to do. She spent the later part of the afternoon in her lab, trying to catch up on the time she wasted sleeping half the day way by drowning herself in endless mathematical formulas and complex equations. She ran her hands over her face and upwards through her blue hair as she sighed again. Having a strict deadline hovering over her did not help anything at all.

"Ok girl, you can do this. You're a freakin' genius! If anyone in the universe can do this, it's you. Just take what you've already built, and what you already know, and bring it to a whole new level." Bulma coached herself, grabbing her mechanical pencil again and scooted closer to her workbench. She re-focused herself. She needed to completely revamp the way she designed the gravity room. Having the power core in the middle of the room took up a lot of space and looking back on it, had never been a practical place to put it. Something that vital to the gravity room being so blatantly out there in the open-while Vegeta tossed around insanely powerful blasts of energy-was only asking for damage and constant repairs, as history proved. Bulma continued to work on her gravity formula as she thought more about this. Perhaps Vegeta would prefer an open-floor plan. One large room, where he could move around freely and not have to be concerned with damaging the center construct.

She loved the idea. If she did that, then she would have to figure out where to put the power core. She crossed one leg over the other, mindlessly tapping the edge of her foot against the leg of the workbench as she thought about it. Putting the power core on the roof seemed horribly inefficient. Besides, who knew…a freak meteor shower could rain down upon Vegetasei and destroy the core. Then again, a meteor shower would probably damage the whole gravity room if it was out in the open. Maybe she could put the power core underneath the gravity room? The flooring was usually the last thing to ever get damaged. She smiled. That seemed like a good idea. Maybe she could build a massively large gravity room completely underground, that way it was protected from outside natural forces. She bet she could make it earthquake and flood proof also.

Yes, building it underground would work. The ground was much cooler and would dissipate the heat better from the power lines and piping than if they were outdoors, baking in the added heat emitted from the twin suns. Plus, she could run the power lines to connect to the energy grid over much of Vegetasei. A beautiful smile crossed her face. That would be amazing, to have ki power the entire planet at night, while solar power ran Vegetasei during the day. It would most definitely put less strain on the grid. She was a damn genius! And with the super-secret, extra special materials she purchased from Riko that he gave her exclusive access too, she would be able to do just that. Instead of the gravity room walls reflecting all of Vegeta's attacks, she could design them to absorb the energy instead and program the room to divert the energy to the power grid for storage to draw from at night. Actually, she could make Vegeta powerful bots with the same materials and have them absorb his attacks and possibly throw his very own power right back at him. He always complained about how weak the bots were and how easily he broke them, so instead of having them generate their own power, she could design them to temporarily absorb extremely high amounts of energy, and get the bots to attack Vegeta back with his very own moves! It would significantly increase his training and give him a real challenge.

In the excitement of her ideas, Bulma realized she made another mistake with her formula, and she hurriedly erased her error. She continued to work on her calculations, and went back to thinking. With such a large training room, Vegeta could bring in quite a few others for training and sparring with him. If that happened, she decided she would have to make the gravity room voice-activated. Maybe get the room to sense and recognize Vegeta's ki and other individual ki signals and get the bots to automatically adjust themselves to their individual power levels? That was definitely an interesting idea to explore. She thought it would also be nice if the room could change weather conditions at random also, if programmed to do so, much like the Hyperbolic Time Chamber. Then Vegeta could train in extreme cold or extreme heat, and in any other turbulent weather condition he could think of. Except for water….she didn't think she could let the room fill up with water. He would have to train in the ocean or search out storms if he wanted to do that. No way in hell would she let him flood the room with water and let him somehow electrocute himself. If she could program the room to provide various weather conditions, then it could monitor his vitals also and end a program if he pushed himself too far. She would be forced to have it do that, since she anticipated that repairs to his room would be minimal.

All of these were amazing ideas, and Bulma quickly jotted all them down alongside her mathematical formulas as she thought of them. She told Vegeta she would bring his gravity room to a whole new level, and if her ideas were any indication, she was going to go above and beyond what he probably expected. Bulma grabbed the schematics and blueprints she had been working on earlier and tore them into shreds, tossing them in the trash. They were now completely useless. She glanced over her notes, feeling a small sense of happiness. His new gravity room was going to be her crown achievement and the very best of her genius.

Vegeta would be highly pleased with her ideas. He would love his new gravity room once it was completed. He probably won't tell her that, though. Or even thank her, especially after what happened between them. Hell, the way she was feeling, she couldn't even talk to Vegeta about anything. Her heart sank. She just had to ruin her thoughts by thinking of him. For a few minutes she completely ignored the divide between them as her mind exploded in new, revolutionary ideas for his gravity chamber. Bulma let out a breathy sigh, wondering if she would even be able to pull off her crazy, amazing ideas. She knew she was probably going to have to borrow Riko for a day or two when she had her calculations and schematics ready, so he could look them over. A fresh pair of engineering eyes would help out a lot. Her dad could look them over also. Besides those two, she had no one else to talk to about it, because no one else would understand.

And she had an angry Saiyan prince who didn't want her talking to him unless it was important.

Feeling depressed again, Bulma grabbed some fresh diagram sheets and began drawing her schematics for her new plan for his gravity room, trying to bury her heartache deep within her and focus on work. She decided she would draw some semi-schematics after she got the basic groundwork of the vessels, piping, valves, wiring, circuitry, and other equipment of the gravity system down. Their interconnecting paths had to be perfect before she could bring more of the physical aspects into play. She would have to take a look at all the materials again, probably while Riko was with her, to determine what metals were good for what. Besides, even if she talked to Vegeta strictly about his gravity room, he wouldn't be interested in this step of the technical and mathematical process anyway. All he would care about is the end result. She supposed he had always been that way though. Seeing she had drawn an incorrect line, Bulma frowned and erased her mistake.

She was having trouble concentrating as she couldn't help but to think about her and Vegeta. How could they fix what had happened between them the previous night? How could they ever take back what they had said to each other? Did he even want to fix things? Did he even regret anything he said to her? Was she really a mistake? Was he never coming back to Earth like he said? Would he forbid her from ever stepping foot on Vegetasei again? Could he do that to her?! Would anyone let him do that to her?! He wouldn't do that, would he?! Could he really remove her from his life? Could she handle it? Would she be able to live her life without him? Bulma sighed in unbelievable frustration. Just what in the hell was wrong with her?! Why in the world did she call it a fling?! Why was she so scared to be in love with Vegeta? How could she be scared of anything? It wasn't how she was raised!

She huffed, groaning miserably. How could she think straight when a hundred worries were running through her troubled mind? And what exactly did Goku want to ask her? Was he going to come back later today like her mom said? Did he need to take her to Vegetasei for some reason? What if Goku knew what happened between them last night? What if everyone knew? And what about Yamcha? Should she even tell him what happened? He would be absolutely enraged. Maybe she shouldn't tell him. But what if he already knew?! He will try to kill Vegeta. Then again, after last night, if Vegeta never stepped foot back on Earth like he said, then she supposed she had nothing to worry about. If they weren't going to be around each other anymore, they would never fight again.

Unless Yamcha was so mad that he made Goku teleport him to Vegetasei. That would be bad. Very bad. To step on his territory unwelcome like that, it wouldn't bode well for him. If Vegeta didn't kill him, no doubt Nappa and Raditz would. Come to think of it, any of the Elites or Royal guards would kill Yamcha without hesitation if he threatened Vegeta like that. Besides, she wasn't even sure Yamcha could handle the enhanced gravity there. It was 10 times that of Earth. He'd be flattened to the ground before he could even take a step.

She needed to tell Goku not to teleport Yamcha to Vegetasei. Ever.

Bulma growled a bit as she made another mistake on the schematic, and erased it. At this rate she would have the schematics and blueprints done by next year. Not to mention her complex mathematical formulas were no where close to being done either. Vegeta would be so pissed if she didn't meet the deadline. Then again, what the hell was he going to do about it? Come to Earth and yell at her and demand that she hurry up? He said he was never coming back, so maybe she found some sort of loophole in their agreement? Then again Vegeta could get so angry that he makes an exception and teleports there to kidnap her and take her back to Vegetasei to force her to finish his gravity room there. She frowned. Hell, if he did that, then she definitely wouldn't do shit for him, not if he was going to act that way! She wouldn't let him treat her like that!

Another mistake made, and Bulma sighed in frustration, erasing part of her work as she started to feel angry. How could she work when her mind was drowning in so many thoughts that were pulling her every which way she could imagine? What she decided she needed was some more alcohol, because all this thinking was clouding her mind. But, before she could stand up from her seat, a strong hand grabbed her shoulder and her chair was spun around.

She was caught off-guard as she looked upward into a pair of very familiar dark eyes.

---

"Yamcha?" Bulma blurted in surprise, wondering how in hell she didn't even hear him enter her lab. How long had he been in there with her?

"Hey babe.." he said somewhat timidly, not sure what his standing was with her after the last time they saw each other. "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

Bulma continued to look up at him oddly for a moment, before regaining her voice. "It's okay, I was just….lost in thought."

Yamcha searched her beautiful blue eyes, and what he was looking for, she didn't know. "Are you busy?" he asked her.

"No, I'm not…" Bulma awkwardly reassured, as she looked away from his analytical gaze and turned attention to his body. The last time she had seen Yamcha he had been a bloody, bruised, broken man on the verge of dying. Now here he was in front of her, in perfectly fine health. It was strange to see him actually okay when her last image of him was gruesome, to say the least.

"Are you sure? You look busy." he told her, peering over behind her and seeing lots of messy paperwork and scientific calculators all over her desk.

"Well…I'm…" Bulma began, hesitating before shaking her head a bit. "…no, I'm not busy. Just working on something…but I have some time. It's not due right away."

Another awkward silence fell between them, and she just did not know what else to say to him. She knew she was going to have to talk to him, and honestly she wasn't sure why she thought she had time to do it later. They were getting married the day after next. Did she somehow expect not to see him until they were literally at the altar? "What…what are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you." Yamcha said simply, as he pulled another chair over to them and turned it around, sitting down on it backwards. He casually leaned his arms over the top of the chair, and looked at her softly. Sometimes he forgot how beautiful Bulma was. He failed to see any fire in her eyes earlier, and he was inwardly relieved. She did not seem angry with him, despite how their last fight left them on bad terms. Maybe their talk would go over better than he thought it would.

Unfortunately for him, the lack of fire in her eyes should have been a sign.

Bulma nodded, taking in a deep breath and letting it out gently. "Yeah, we need to talk." she agreed with him. More quiet moments passed between them, as neither one of them knew where to start. She decided to try to say something first. "I'm glad you're okay. They got you senzu beans in time."

This was a positive start. He thought the first thing she would talk to him about was where they had left off at. "Yeah. If it had been too much longer, I probably wouldn't be here right now." Yamcha said in a soft tone, expecting some sympathy from her.

"Vegeta beat you up pretty badly." Bulma began, although it pained her to say his name outloud. Her voice did not waiver though, as she sounded very factual. She did not rub it in his face, or try to make him feel bad about it. "Honestly, Yamcha, it's a miracle he didn't kill you. He could have killed you."

"So I've been told." Yamcha let out an irritated huff as he leaned forward in his chair, crossing his arms over the top of it. He looked away from her gaze, trying to stare at some other random thing in the lab. He wanted to keep their talk as adult and reasonable as possible, but that would prove to be more difficult than he thought. "Let me guess, you're going to say that he should have?"

Bulma frowned. "Of course not, Yamcha! How can you ask me that?"

Yamcha stayed silent for a moment, genuinely surprised that she did not side with Vegeta. He half-expected her to go off on a rant about how he instigated it and that the Saiyan would have been justified in killing him.

Bulma crossed her arms underneath her bosom in a sheltered manner. "Just…." sighed, not knowing where to begin. "…what the hell were you two fighting over?"

"I don't know." Yamcha answered in veiled frustration, running a single hand through his long dark hair. "We fight over nothing. And everything." he paused for a short moment, hesitating in elaborating any further. "Over you." he reluctantly admitted, knowing he had to say it if he was ever going to get down to the real underlying issue he had against Vegeta.

"Me?" Bulma said incredulously, somewhat stunned at hearing this. She looked at Yamcha, trying to gauge if he was being serious or not. "Why?" She immediately thought about what her mother had told her the other night. Her mom had been thoroughly convinced that their constant bickering and fighting was over her. She had dismissed the very idea at the time, not seeing how it was possible.

Yamcha shrugged. "I don't know, babe. Look, last night I called as soon as I got out of practice to talk to you. He wouldn't let me talk to you. Then I came by, and you and I started arguing, and he just had to interfere, just like he always does….." he began, starting to get mad again as he recalled his emotions from the previous night and took a moment to breathe, trying to reign his temper in. "And then I grabbed you…. then he punched me, and we starting fighting-and it's like I don't know what came over me." Yamcha continued to ramble. "I don't know what came over him! I was just so angry and so was he, and we weren't really fighting over the phone call or anything, it's just…." he trailed off, visibly frustrated at not being able to voice what he was feeling.

Bulma frowned in unease as she listened to Yamcha's side of the story, even though she never cared to ask Vegeta for his. It only served to remind her that she had been more concerned last night over his well-being than over her own fiancée's. Her heart continued to beat in an indescribable ache as they spoke about the one person she could not take her mind off of. "I'm guessing you don't know what you did?" she asked him simply.

Yamcha narrowed his eyes in confusion. "What did I do?"

Bulma pursed her lips, looking away from him. He obviously did not know what she was talking about "You gave me a pretty big bruise on my arm when you grabbed me. I won't lie, it hurt, but I know you didn't do it on purpose."

At hearing her words, Yamcha turned to her with an alarmed look on his face. "I did what?" he said as his eyes shot to her arm, expecting to see the bruise, but her arm was covered up by her long-sleeved shirt.

Bulma rolled her sleeve up, showing him that her arm was just fine. "It's healed now. Bardock put some healing salve on it yesterday." she said with indifference.

He sighed. "Babe, I'm sorry…I didn't mean to. I guess I just don't realize my own strength." Yamcha said apologetically as he dropped his head down between his arms as they remained outstretched over the top of the chair. After a moment he raised his head and looked at her, unable to read the look on her face. "And that's why he punched me…." he trailed off in realization, now understanding why Vegeta had been the first to throw a blow at him.

Bulma tilted her head a bit, watching herself roll her sleeve back down over her arm. She avoided his gaze as she heard him inadvertently give her an excuse as to how he had hurt her. Vegeta was unbelievably stronger than Yamcha was, yet even at the heights of his anger at here, never once physically hurt her….not even last night as they began to fall apart from each other. The sting in her heart made her wince. She cleared her throat gently as her emotions threatened to choke her. "You know he's very protective of me. I know you don't like that, but he's always been like that with me, ever since I can remember."

"Yeah, I know." Yamcha reluctantly murmured. "We're all very protective of you. I don't think any of us can help that. I love you, Bulma. And so does Goku, and Gohan, and Krillin, and Tien and Chiatzou, and Oolong and well…everyone. Every one of us would gladly die for you, especially me, you do know that, right?" he asked. He awaited her answer and heard nothing but silence from her. Not even a nod of her head. He sighed despondently. "Hell, I'm sure even Vegeta would die for you too."

"Not anymore…" Bulma couldn't help but mumble at hearing his last words, the deep ache in her heart thumping inside her chest again as she thought of Vegeta. A pained expression then flashed over her beautiful face as she suddenly felt an overwhelming feeling of suffocation as she felt inexplicably enraged for a moment-only to have that sensation abruptly fade and replaced with the familiar ache she had been feeling since she had awakened. The fleeting, yet drastic sensations were very uncomfortable, and Bulma began to worry that something was wrong with her. She was forced to adjust her sitting position as she glanced up and saw Yamcha give her a concerned, questioned look. She sighed, ignoring what she had said-and how she was feeling-as she was compelled to ask a couple of very important questions.

"So…is this how it's going to be for the rest of our lives, Yamcha?" she asked with veiled irritation. "Are you and Vegeta going to keep arguing and fighting with each other? Because this has been going on for a very long time, and honestly, I'm getting tired of it."

Yamcha frowned. "You're getting tired of it?!" he said incredulously. "Do you really think I want to keep doing this? Believe me, I don't enjoy arguing with him, or fighting him! It wasn't fun almost dying the other night, you know!"

"I'm sure it wasn't." Bulma answered, giving him a look. "It's getting worse and worse. The other night was the closest you've ever been to dying against him, Yamcha. If you two keep fighting, he'll kill you next time." she said, not realizing she had no emotion over the subject of him being killed. "That won't go over very well with many people, so it sounds to me like we need to find a solution to this."

The lack of worry in her voice was evident to him, and he wondered how she could be so cold-hearted and distant about something as serious as this. He looked at her disbelievingly. He wasn't sure, but he thought he sensed some sort of underlying threat that he was unaware of. "A solution? There isn't one." Yamcha said resentfully. "As long as Vegeta and I are around each other-as long as we're both in your life-we're gonna keep clashing horns. You know that."

For the first time since they began talking, a spark of flame ignited in Bulma's blue eyes. Was he trying to give her an ultimatum?! She frowned in anger, clicking her tongue against her teeth as she considered her next words carefully. She tilted her head sideways a bit, an air of danger around her as gave him an analytical look. "Are you trying to make me choose between you or Vegeta?"

Yamcha saw the fire in her eyes, heard the warning in her voice, and he wisely backed down. "No babe, I'm not." he tried to backtrack, hoping he could get his point across without enraging her. "It's just…whenever we're both around you, we always fight. I know it's stressful on you, because it's stressful on me. I'm sure it's probably stressful on him also. Something does need to change, Bulma. You think things are bad now?" he reasoned. "Just wait until we get married. Our relationship is going to be put even more to the test if he keeps interfering in our business." He watched as she began to grow angrier at his words. "Look, I know you don't like hearing this, but I need to say it, and whether you like it or not, you need to hear it. Vegeta gets between us all the time!"

"He does not." Bulma insisted, not appreciating his exaggeration.

"Fine! Maybe not all the time, but he does take up an insane amount of your time from me. You're always fixing his machines here, or going to his damned monkey planet and fixing them over there."

"Watch it." she growled at hearing the disrespect towards the red planet she loved so much.

Yamcha brushed off the warning as he continued with what he was saying. "You're always working on some project that he wants you to do, and by the off-chance that the stars finally align and I have you to myself, I still never do. Lately he always has something that seems to come up."

"Like what?!" she challenged.

"Like last month, when you and I planned a day at the beach together." he countered.

"We went to the beach together, Yamcha." Bulma said very matter-of-factly.

He scoffed. "Yeah, for about an hour until he shows up, telling you he destroyed all the bots and that you needed to fix them."

"I had to! He needs the bots working and the gravity room functional in order to train. It's my job, Yamcha! It's what I'm supposed to do!"

"So?! You didn't have to do it right then! You could have told him that you were busy spending time with me and that you would fix them later!" Yamcha argued, frustrated that she wasn't seeing his point. "Oh, and what about that one time when we were going to go out to dinner and a movie?"

"When?!"

"In January, remember?!"

"How in hell am I supposed to remember something like that from almost 10 months ago?!" Bulma demanded, her arms firmly crossed over her chest as she listened to his ridiculous complaints

"How could you forget? You cancelled on me! You said that you wished you could watch the fireworks in Beijing for Chinese New Year. Lo and behold, a few days later, Vegeta is suddenly willing to take you to Beijing so that you can watch the fireworks in person instead of on TV!"

"Yamcha, he rarely does anything but eat, sleep, train, and help run an empire." she said sternly. "He never wants to go anywhere or do anything with me, unless I make him. I couldn't turn down an offer like that from him!"

"Please," he scoffed in bitterness, "that's bullshit. You could have said no and that you had a date with me, but did you say that to him? No, you didn't. Instead you called me, told me we could go out to dinner and a movie any other time, and then you took off with him!"

She sighed in frustration. "You act like he does this on purpose!"

"Well, I don't know Bulma." Yamcha started off condescendingly, as he gave her a sarcastic look. "A few times wouldn't matter, but when this has been going on for the past 10 years, I can't help but to think he's trying to get between us."

"It's convenient that you single out a few of the times that it seems that way. So what about all the other times we've been together without interruptions from him? I think you're being delusional!"

"Me?! You're the one who's being delusional! I swear, as smart as you are Bulma, I can't believe you can't see what's going on! You know Vegeta doesn't like me. He never has, not since the first second he met me."

"What's your point? Vegeta doesn't like anyone, you know that." Bulma defended, getting uptight as she felt like she was being attacked.

Yamcha sighed in frustration as they kept going in circles, seeing her get defensive. "Forget it. Look, Bulma, I'm not going to stay here all day with you arguing over this." he said, standing up out of his chair for a moment as he turned it around again, sitting down on it properly as he decided to get down to business. He sat down, leaning forward as the back of the chair was no longer a barrier between them. "I just want to know if you're always gonna choose Vegeta over me, even after we get married." he asked her seriously.

She was caught off-guard at the bluntness of Yamcha's question. "I…I don't always choose him over you." Bulma stammered in denial, a troubled look on her face as she felt the truth of it.

"Yes you do." Yamcha said, deciding to try a different tactic with her as he rolled his chair closer to her. She tensed as he neared her, and despite the tension between them, he reached over and gently placed his hands on her arms, seeing her involuntarily wince at his motion. He sighed, coaxing her to relax her arms away from her torso so that he could hold her hands. After some hesitation, Bulma relented, letting him hold her hands in his as he then gave them a gentle squeeze. He looked into her beautiful, troubled eyes.

"And it's nothing new, babe. I've dealing with this since we were teenagers-ever since we've been together. Look, I get it, okay? You have known Vegeta since you were a baby. You and your dad work for him and his planet. You're the only one that I know of who is smart enough to do what you do, build what you build, and deal with him, because he sure as hell isn't an easy person to like or understand. Believe me when I say you are an absolute angel for being able to put up with him for so long, but there has to be a time where you stop being scared and put your foot down with him and tell him that he can't keep getting between us."

Bulma looked at him sharply, astounded at what she just him heard say. "Is that what you think? That I'm scared of Vegeta?" she blurted, not believing that was really what he thought as she pulled her hands away from his. "I have never been scared of him, Yamcha, and I never will be! He may be a powerful alien prince, but I have no problems in standing up to him and telling him what I think!"

It was Yamcha's turn to be shocked, surprised at her sudden outburst. His eyebrows furrowed as he frowned in anger. "Well then, if you're not scared of him, then what the hell is the problem?! Why do you keep letting him get between us?! You need to tell Vegeta that I am your priority, not him!" he demanded.

Bulma quickly shot up out of her chair, placing her clenched fists firmly on her hips as she as she shot him an uncompromising glare. "Don't you tell me what to do, Yamcha! I don't let Vegeta get away with trying to tell me what to do, and I sure as hell won't let you get away with it either!"

"So that's your answer then?!" Yamcha growled as he stood up and matched her stance, his glare matching her intensity. "You're still gonna let him get away with his bullshit even after we get married?! You're still gonna choose him over me?!"

"I'm not choosing anyone over anyone!" Bulma insisted firmly. "You're my fiancée, Yamcha! And he's….he's…." she stammered, not knowing what to say about Vegeta, "….I don't know what he is, but it's not the same, okay?!"

"Fine!" he spat, his demeanor darkening. "Then if you won't talk to Vegeta and tell him how it's going to be, then I will." he promised. "I'll be sure to tell him the next time I see him."

"He's never coming back to Earth!" Bulma blurted out in a frustrated yell, turning her body partly away from Yamcha as she tried hard to focus on something, anything, inside her lab, willing away the tears that threatened to show. The pain of the reality of it burned hot within her chest as the ache crawled up her throat, momentarily choking her. Saying it out loud was unbelievably heartbreaking. She managed a difficult swallow, trying to control her emotions. "So good luck with that." she muttered after she was able to find her voice again.

"What?! What do you mean?!" Yamcha growled in response, not expecting this sudden turn of events.

"Exactly what I said, Yamcha." Bulma said evenly, taking a moment to compose herself as she turned to look at her workstation, blankly staring at her schematics and calculations. "He's never stepping foot on Earth again."

"Why?" Yamcha asked, his anger toning down. What the hell happened? Did she ban him from coming back to Earth?

"We had a falling-out last night. A bad one. Bad enough that he told me he would never come back. He meant it." Bulma said, quickly inhaling a deep breath, letting it out with a heavy heart as she managed to reign in the rest of her emotions, locking them back up in her heart. She had nothing else to say for the moment as she remained quiet and turned to look back at Yamcha again, seeing that his anger, and well as hers, had toned down quite a bit over the past few moments. "So now you don't have to worry about him getting in the way between us." she said somewhat sarcastically.

Yamcha sighed in frustration, rolling his eyes. "I never said I wanted him out of your life forever."

"He might as well be." she said indifferently, as she glanced back over at her workstation, trying not to look at him. "With things this bad between us…it might actually sever ties between our planets."

"It's that bad?" Yamcha asked in veiled concerned. Sure, it made him happy that Vegeta wasn't going to be in the picture anymore. If he was not coming to Earth anymore, then there would be no more conflict between him and Vegeta, or between himself and Bulma. Still, this was something to be concerned about, because he didn't like seeing Bulma disturbed about it, no matter how hard she was trying to hide it.

"It feels like it is." Bulma answered honestly, her voice wavering slightly. Yamcha might have taken her words figuratively, but she meant them literally as she continued to feel that familiar ache in her chest. She closed her eyes for a moment, sensing something. She felt the ache pulling and tugging on her. She opened her eyes, feeling the sensation quickly fade away. Something was definitely wrong with her. She couldn't explain what she was feeling, least of all to Yamcha. He wouldn't understand. How could he, when she herself could not describe it? She resolved that after her and Yamcha were done talking, she was going to have her dad examine her.

"If he's not coming back here, then what does that mean? Are you going to keep having to go to his planet then?" Yamcha asked, not sure if this meant she would be away from Earth even more now.

Bulma shrugged. "I doubt I will be going there much anymore after this." she said, motioning with her hand over to her workstation. "After I finish building him this new gravity room, he won't need me around anymore."

"What do you mean? Aren't you going to be needed for repairs and stuff? Doesn't he need you to fix whatever he destroys?"

Bulma took another look over at her project, before turning back to Yamcha. She kept her voice even, but the sadness in her eyes was apparent. "No. The room will be almost completely indestructible, and will require minimal maintenance. If there are any repairs that need to be made, or reprogramming to be done, there are other mechanics and engineers who can handle them."

Hearing this made Yamcha glad. Yes, he probably was a bad person, since her sadness equated to his happiness-but to not have Vegeta on Earth anymore, prowling Capsule Corp grounds, interfering between him and Bulma-it was a godsend! And with Bulma not going to Vegetasei much, if at all anymore, only meant that she would be home on Earth, helping to run Capsule Corp. She would come home to him, and he would finally have her all to himself.

Feeling happiness flood through him, and feeling very hopeful about their future together now, Yamcha took the few steps that separated himself and Bulma. He decided to dismiss their earlier arguments and was willing to move on from them now that he felt that his concerns were now invalid. He no longer saw Vegeta as a threat. After all, if the Saiyan did somehow have feelings for her, or if she had any for him, then they wouldn't be separating themselves from each other like this. 'Ha, Goku was wrong after all,' Yamcha inwardly mused, as he felt he had proof that Vegeta and Bulma's ties to each other didn't seem to run as deep as Goku had believed and had told him about. "Babe, try not to dwell on it. Maybe this is for the better." he reasoned, placing his hands on her upper arms, and missed how she flinched slightly at his touch. "So…are you and I going to be okay now?"

Bulma looked into his eyes and studied his face. Did she even have an answer for that? How could she think right now? Her and Vegeta were falling apart, and she wasn't sure they could ever be put back together again. She feared she was going to be separated from an alien world that she considered a second home. Her head was hurting, her heart was aching, and she wasn't feeling quite like herself. She had a pressing deadline hanging over her head. She had a worldwide corporation to take over and run soon. She had a massive wedding happening the day after next. The stress and tension within her was overwhelming, but in true Saiyan nature, she kept it bottled and locked up inside of her.

She saw Yamcha awaiting her answer, and she needed to think of one. But, all that ran though her mind were the endless fears and doubts that had been plaguing her for the past few months. Was this the man she was going to marry in a couple of days? Was this the man she was meant to be with after all? Was this the man who was right for her? Was this the man who she loved?

"Bulma?" Yamcha asked, his voice laced with worry at not hearing her respond right away.

"Yeah, we're okay." she murmured numbly as his voice broke her out of her many disturbed thoughts. At hearing this, Yamcha nodded and brought her against him and gave her a big, warm hug.

She did not hug him back.

Yamcha pulled away from her and gave her a lopsided smile, missing the fact that Bulma did not embrace him also. "How about you take a break and I take you out somewhere to eat?"

She did not feel like going anywhere, at all. She just wanted to say home and suffer though whatever she was feeling, and continue to work on the foundation of the gravity room. But she couldn't turn him down, not after things were supposed to be okay between them again. She forced herself to make an effort with him.

"Sure, that sounds good." she reluctantly agreed. "I am hungry. Let me change, and we'll get going…" Bulma said softly, walking towards the stairs, as he followed right behind her. They began to head out of her lab, making small talk, trying to decide on where to go have an early dinner at.

They walked through a few winding hallways, becoming startled when Goku suddenly appeared in front of them.

---

Vegeta let the hot water rain down upon his body as he took his time in the shower, no desire to wipe off the healing fluid as he let the fluid slowly wash away at its own pace. He stood in front of the shower head, the palms of his hands both pressed against the shower wall as he dipped his head down, letting the spray of the water hit against his lower neck and shoulder blades. The hot water felt good. It felt very therapeutic to him.

The prince let out a heavy-hearted sigh, slowly rolling his neck and turning his head one way, then the other, as he silently urged the hot water to burn away whatever he was feeling. It wasn't working as an indescribable void continued to grow somewhere inside of him. It seemed that purging Bulma from his heart was going to be harder than he thought it would be. Frustrated, he rested one of his forearms against the shower wall, leaning forward to rest his forehead against it. The hot water now rained down upon his back, as he raised his other hand to the back of his neck to massage it.

Why did he do something as idiotic as kissing her? It would have been better for Bulma to have rejected him right then, instead of kissing him back and having him cross this apparent point-of-no-return. He growled. Who was he kidding? He had been lost for her for a long time already. He didn't know how he was going to handle seeing her again. Part of him wanted to be cold-hearted and distant, while the other part wanted to confront her and demand her affections. Huffing in frustration, he stepped back away from the shower wall and let the water hit his chest, over his heart.

If only the water could wash away everything that happened last night.

As if his silent wish was misunderstood, Vegeta sensed something strange in his chest again. He reached up with a hand and placed his palm over his heart, feeling it beat strongly. He frowned, not understanding what was the matter with him. Since he first emerged out of the rejuvenation tank, that unfamiliar sensation randomly spiked and faded away. It had been fleeting at the time, but now, as he continued to think of Bulma, he was sure he felt something more concrete as the sensation stayed with him longer than usual.

He tried to ignore what he was feeling, despite the vacancy in his heart urging and tugging at him. It was an aching sensation…like something was being twisted inside his chest very slowly. If he had to describe the feeling, he would not be able to.

Little did he know that Bulma was feeling the same thing as he was.

How would he know that her soul was calling out for his?

---

A warm smile graced Bulma's lips as she heard Vegeta acknowledge that he would miss her after all. She knew she was going to miss him so much also.

His affirmation did much to quell the anxiety she had over their impending separation, but she still felt that things between them were going to change forever. How could being separated for two years from each other not affect them? Before she could say anything else, Vegeta pulled himself up to a standing position. "Come, girl, it is getting late and it will be dark soon. Let's get back to the palace."

"Vegeta, are you ever going to stop calling me 'girl'?" Bulma asked off-handedly as she got to her feet, picking up their beach towels and shaking the sand off of them.

"Would you rather I call you 'woman'?" the prince asked her, curling his tail around his waist as he watched her shake out the beach towels.

"No! That sounds horribly chauvinistic! I wouldn't like that any more than being called 'girl'." Bulma answered much too honestly. Too late, she realized her mistake as she looked over at Vegeta, seeing the tell-tale sign of trouble sparkle in his dark eyes as he smirked mischievously at her.

"Great. You're going to start calling me 'woman' now, aren't you?" she said, shaking her head at her slip-up.

"Of course I am, woman. I have been calling you 'girl' for the past twenty years. A change up seems to be in order. I think I will enjoy this new name for you."

"You're such a jerk, you know that?" Bulma couldn't help but laugh good-naturedly, enjoying his rare playfulness with her. As they began to walk through the sand and head back to the palace, she was suddenly feeling brave. She wanted to express a little more of the worry and concern she had. "Vegeta…no matter how far apart we are, we're always going to be okay, right?" she asked, the concerned look on her face still evident.

He could sense her anxiety, and he remained quiet. Up until now, they had never been apart for more than a few months or so at a time. Bulma was either with him on Vegetasei, or he was with her on Earth. Moments passed and Bulma's ki began to waiver slightly at his lack of an immediate response. Vegeta sighed, the tip of his tail curling and uncurling as he contemplated his next words to her. "The lightyears between our worlds….between us are inconsequential. We will always be together, even when we're not."

---

Wow, lots going on in this chapter! More story background between them, which I always enjoy. Did you like the flashbacks? How about Vegeta's confrontation with his parents? Or the lingering threat from the Icejins wanting Bulma there? How about the conversation between Yamcha and Bulma? And what about Goku showing up? I'm sure Yamcha and Goku have some things to discuss. What did you think about what's going on between Vegeta and Bulma? I know some people weren't too sure about the whole 'bonding' aspect, but it won't be like in other stories. This is only a partial bond, which will only be evident during times of extreme emotions.

I really hope you enjoyed reading this. I hope you will leave me a review and tell me your thoughts on this chapter. Also, what are you excited about? What are you worried about? If it's about me taking so long to update, I'm sorry! I have another 5-6 chapters planned, and I will keep working hard at my story, I promise. I will try to keep the writer's block at bay as best I can!

Chapter 17 is a work in progress. My goal is to get it finished and posted in a couple of weeks. Until then, I'll keep on writing, and I will see you soon.

*~*~* Bella *~*~*